Department for Transport

Govia Thameslink Railway

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department has received on reasons for absences of train drivers and cancellations of services operated by Govia Thameslink Railway Ltd.

Claire Perry: The Department receives regular reports from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) regarding train operating performance. These reports include reasons for driver absences and train cancellations. Department officials routinely meet with GTR managers and senior directors to review all performance issues and cancellations due to driver resources.

Home Office

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department's document, Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals for 2014, will be published.

Mike Penning: The Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals for 2014 has been pre-announced on GOV.UK for publication on Thursday 22 October 2015.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: UK Membership of EU

Mr David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many officials in his Department are engaged in research into the effects of the UK leaving the EU.

Anna Soubry: The Government is focused on delivering a successful renegotiation: it believes it can and will succeed in reforming and renegotiating our relationship with the EU and campaigning to keep the UK in the EU on that basis. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Carbon Emissions

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three years; and to which companies payments in respect of carbon offsetting were made in each such year.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The following table provides details of how much the Ministry of Justice has spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three financial years and the companies to which these payments were made.YearAmount spent Company2012/13£1,939South Pole2013/14£794EDF, South Pole2014/15£1,838Carbon Footprint LtdThis has fallen significantly from the £29,804 spent in 2010/11.

Landlords: Fines

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to increase the fines that local authorities can impose on landlords convicted of housing offences.

Andrew Selous: Magistrates can impose a fine of any amount for many housing offences. For all fines, the courts will continue to impose amounts based on seriousness and the financial circumstances of the offender.

Courts: Carmarthen

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what capital expenditure there was on (a) Carmarthen Law Courts (The Guildhall) and (b) Carmarthen Civil, Family, Tribunal and Probate Hearing Centre in each financial year from 2008-09 to date.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The capital expenditure for Carmarthen Law Courts (The Guildhall) and Carmarthen Civil, Family, Tribunal and Probate Hearing Centre is provided below.Financial YearCarmarthen Civil, Family, Tribunal and Probate Hearing CentreCarmarthen Law Courts (The Guildhall)2008-09002009-100£229,4212010-11002011-12£60,00002012-13£291,771£1,130,0922013-14£11,71502014-1500This included essential maintenance and replacing equipment which had come to the end of its life, all of which were necessary for the court to function.

Magistrates' Courts: Fees and Charges

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what procedures are in place in the magistrates' courts to inform people on lower incomes that there is a remissions system of full or partial fee waivers.

Andrew Selous: Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service administrative staff working in Magistrates' courts and hearing centres routinely inform court users of the fee remission system over the telephone, and in written correspondence. In addition, Magistrates' court users can access written guidance online at www.justice.gov.uk/courts/fees, and in hard copy at all Magistrates' courts.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Public Lavatories: Non-domestic Rates

Craig Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was collected from local authorities at all tiers from non-domestic property tax levied on public conveniences in each of the last three years.

Mr Marcus Jones: My Department does not collect that data.

Change of Use

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of (a) extending and (b) making permanent permitted development rights to convert offices to residential buildings.

Brandon Lewis: To further support new housing supply and home ownership we are announcing further changes to permitted development rights. When the Government brought forward measures from the summer 2014 ‘Technical consultation on planning’ we undertook to further consider the case for extending the office to residential reforms, which are helping to provide more new homes on brownfield land. These rights are being used, with almost 4,900 applications received by councils in the five quarters ending June 2015 and 4,000 approved during the same period, without needing to go through the whole planning process.Given the extensive use of the right, I can confirm that the Government intends to make permanent the permitted development right that provides for offices to change to residential use and extend the right to allow for demolition of the office and replacement by new housing on a like for like basis. This has the potential to allow for a new building to better accommodate new homes and improve design quality. We will allow for those applicants who already have prior approval or who secure a new prior approval to have three years from the date of their approval in which to complete the change of use.Those areas that are currently exempt from the office to residential permitted development right, such as the City of London, the London Central Activities Zone and Central Manchester will remain so until May 2019. This will provide time for local authorities with exemptions to bring forward an Article 4 direction in line with national policy for these areas if they wish. Alongside this, we will also bring forward new permitted development rights for three years that allow buildings up to 500m2 used for light industry compatible with housing, to change to residential use. There will also be a permanent right for launderettes of up to 150m2 to change to residential. These changes will further increase the contribution to housing delivery and reduce unnecessary planning regulations.These permitted development rights allow more development to take place without the need for a planning application. They will be subject to prior approval, allowing consideration by the local planning authority of specific planning matters.

Cabinet Office

Electoral Register: Finance

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 16 July 2015, on Individual Electoral Registration (IER), HCWS 127, which local authorities have received any of the additional £3 million funding; and how much such additional funding each local authority has received so far to target their non IER registered carry-forward electors.

John Penrose: Holding answer received on 12 October 2015



The following table shows the local authorities who have received funding to target non IER registered carry-forward electors. We are currently in the process of agreeing funding to a further 57 local authorities.Local AuthorityAllocationBirmingham City Council£75,939.20Lambeth, London Borough of£42,500.00Bristol City Council£39,425.00Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council£30,025.60Sheffield City Council£22,693.60Brent, London Borough of£17,603.20Newham, London Borough of£15,116.80Kensington and Chelsea, Royal Borough of£14,128.00Bury Metropolitan Borough Council£13,612.80Cheshire West and Chester Council£12,000.00Sevenoaks District£11,357.00Harrow, London Borough of£10,792.00Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council£10,699.20Wandsworth, London Borough of£10,677.60Cheshire East Borough Council£10,292.00Nottingham City Council£9,845.60Ealing, London Borough of£9,611.70Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of£8,885.60Southampton City Council£8,244.80Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council£8,234.40Camden, London Borough of£8,056.00Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council£7,785.00Islington, London Borough of£7,619.20Plymouth City Council£7,572.00Windsor and Maidenhead, Royal Borough of£7,518.40Cornwall Council£6,380.72Portsmouth City Council£6,252.00Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council£6,216.00Maidstone Borough Council£5,892.00Oxford City Council£5,881.60South Somerset District Council£5,801.60Greenwich, London Borough of£5,492.00Vale of White Horse District Council£5,252.80Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council£5,200.00West Lancashire Borough Council£5,000.00Winchester City Council£5,000.00Salford City Council£4,841.35Swindon Borough Council£4,612.00Mendip District Council£3,917.60Crawley Borough Council£3,751.20Allerdale Borough Council£3,566.60Peterborough City COuncil£3,019.00Kettering Borough Council£3,000.00Isle of Wight County Council£2,306.90Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council£2,150.00Rugby Borough Council£2,006.10Lewes District Council£2,000.00Swale Borough Council£2,000.00South Kesteven District Council£1,987.15Preston City Council£1,970.00St Albans District Council£1,580.00Derbyshire Dales District Council£1,500.00Rutland County Council£1,464.80Gloucester City Council£1,450.00Dover District Council£1,428.20Rother District Council£1,247.64Bracknell Forest Borough Council£1,209.90

Department of Health

Social Services: Living Wage

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the national living wage on social care providers.

Alistair Burt: The impact of the new National Living Wage on local authority finances will be considered during the Spending Review as part of an overall assessment of spending pressures on local authorities.

Social Services: Finance

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of reductions in local authority social care budgets on the prevalence of delayed discharges in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Department has not formally assessed the relationship between local authority social care budgets and the prevalence of delayed discharges in the National Health Service.Internal analysis has been unable to demonstrate a statistical relationship between local authority budgets and delayed transfer of care performance, although qualitative evidence from the sector does indicate the importance of strong and effective social care services in supporting delivery of NHS services.

Glaucoma

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS was of treating patients with glaucoma in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.

Alistair Burt: Cost information is shown in the following table from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year. The table shows the costs of a surgical procedure covering one episode of care under one consultant in an admitted patient or outpatient setting and does not include other elements of the patient pathway such as general practitioner consultations or outpatient appointments. It is not possible to separately identify the costs of glaucoma in non-surgical appointments.Costs associated with glaucoma procedures, 2011/12 – 2013/14Healthcare Resource Group (HRG)ActivityNational average unit cost £Estimated total cost £million2011/12   Major Glaucoma Procedures2,248£1,440£3.2mIntermediate Glaucoma Procedures33,842£387£13.1mMinor Glaucoma Procedures17,194£293£5.0mTotal  £21.3m2012/13   Major Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+1,206£1,665£2.0mMajor Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 02,622£885£2.3mIntermediate Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+3,167£1,250£4.0mIntermediate Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 017,410£451£7.9mMinor Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 1+2,014£773£1.6mMinor Glaucoma Procedures, with CC Score 019,243£198£3.8mTotal  £21.6m2013/14   Major Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+1,709£1,689£2.9mMajor Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 03,129£884£2.8mIntermediate Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+3,384£1,236£4.2mIntermediate Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 09,297£772£7.2mMinor Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 1+2,142£680£1.5mMinor Glaucoma Procedures with CC Score 024,688£181£4.5mTotal  £23.1mSource: Reference costs, Department of HealthNotes:The HRG classification groups procedures into categories such as major, intermediate and minor, according to their complexity.Complication and comorbidity scores describe the illness severity and complexity of patients, and the additional resources required for their treatment.

Visual Impairment

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of people with sight loss in the UK and (b) likely number of people who will have sight loss in 2050.

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average annual cost to the NHS of the effects of sight loss; and if he will make a statement.

Mr George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the likely effects of the ageing population on the costs of treating sight loss and eye health issues.

Alistair Burt: The Department has made no recent estimate of the number of people with sight loss, the likely number who will have sight loss in the future, or of the costs in treating sight loss and eye health issues.Information on the number of patients who are blind or have sight loss is not collected centrally. However information is available on the number of people who are registered by local authorities as blind or partially sighted. At March 2014, the number of people on the register of blind people was 143,000 and on the register of partially sighted people 147,700.Registration as blind or partially sighted is voluntary so the numbers registered are likely to be an underestimate of the total number of people living with sight loss. Research funded by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, published in 20091, estimated there were almost 2 million people in the United Kingdom living with sight loss and that this number would double to 4 million by 2050.Information is collected centrally and published on NHS expenditure on `problems of vision’ across both primary and secondary care. In the latest year for which data has been published2 for both primary and secondary care, 2012/13, primary care trust expenditure was £2.3 billion. The Department expects NHS England to commission services for eye health to meet any increased demand, as it would in any other area of healthcare. The ‘Five Year Forward View’3 sets out the vision for how services may be organised going forward.1 http://www.rnib.org.uk/sites/default/files/FSUK_Report.pdf2 http://www.england.nhs.uk/resources/resources-for-ccgs/prog-budgeting/3 http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/5yfv-web.pdf

Social Services

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to improve the quality of adult social care; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of adult social care provided by local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Government is committed to improving the quality of adult social care. We have taken a number of recent steps to do so.In October 2014, we introduced a tougher inspection system by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Following inspections, the CQC now also awards each care service a single quality rating with providers rated as “Outstanding”, “Good”, “Requires Improvement” or “Inadequate”. Services rated “Inadequate” are being placed into Special Measure which means they could face closure if they fail to improve.These new ratings and other information about the type and quality of care at every care home and homecare service in the country are now available on NHS Choices and the MyNHS Transparency website, making it much easier for people to compare the quality of services.This year we introduced a Certificate of Fundamental Care, now known as the Care Certificate. This will help ensure that care workers can deliver a consistently high quality standard of care.The Department is funding and working with a number of organisations including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Skills for Care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association on a range of projects to help adult social care organisations and staff improve the quality of care. These resources include new NICE Quality Standards and Guidelines which bring clarity to what excellence looks like in care and Commissioning for Better Outcomes – A Route Map* that sets out a series of commissioning standards that will be used as part of local government sector-led improvement to drive best practices in local authority commissioning under their new duties in the Care Act 2015.*Available at:http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5756320/Commissioning+for+Better+Outcomes+A+route+map/8f18c36f-805c-4d5e-b1f5-d3755394cfab

Calderdale Royal Hospital: Private Finance Initiative

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister's comments on the PFI scheme at Calderdale Royal Hospital, reported in the Halifax Courier on 21 April 2015, what steps he is taking to restructure that PFI scheme.

Alistair Burt: This is a matter for Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Calderdale Royal Hospital.

Hospital Beds: Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of delayed transfers in West Sussex; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: Action taken to address delayed transfers in West Sussex is a matter for the local health and social care community.We understand that Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG are monitoring any delays on a daily basis, and working closely with colleagues in social care and community health teams. Coordinated actions between health and social care include dedicated meetings focusing on delayed transfers of care held each week; proactive management of patient flow via daily ward rounds; implementation of a daily “SITREP” and escalation process for patients who are significantly delayed; and ward sponsorship by local managers to support change.Sussex Community NHS Trust is undertaking a detailed review of these issues, and has put an action plan in place to address them.The CCGs are also working in partnership with West Sussex County Council to develop an integrated hospital discharge model, and have already established a Hospital Rapid Discharge Team at Princess Royal Hospital which is reducing the number of patients that go on to the wards by between 25% - 30%.We are advised that these efforts have resulted in a steady reduction in average length of stay over recent months.

Pharmacy: Health

Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the role of community pharmacies in keeping people healthy.

Alistair Burt: We have long recognised that community pharmacy teams play a vital role in improving people’s health, preventing ill-health and helping to reduce health inequalities. Informed by a growing evidence base, we have enabled community pharmacy to deliver a wide range of public health services. We have actively supported the implementation of Healthy Living Pharmacies, with qualified health champions on site reaching out to, and improving the health of, people in their communities.Public Health England (PHE) keeps under review the progress that pharmacy is making on keeping people healthy and is providing system leadership for pharmacy’s public health role and strategic leadership for the acceleration and spread of Healthy Living Pharmacies across the country. PHE’s vision for pharmacy is one in which community pharmacy teams are fully integrated into the local primary care networks, playing an appropriate and pivotal role in improving the health of people in England. PHE has built a strong relationship with the sector, seeking to utilise its unique offering of access, location and an informal environment, with trusted staff that reflect the background of the communities that they serve. PHE is embedding pharmacy in its priority public health programmes such as prevention, early detection and management of blood pressure, NHS Health Checks and smoking cessation.

Health Services: Weather

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what additional financial support he is making available to the NHS to help it deal with winter pressures.

Mr Jeremy Hunt: £400 million in resilience money has been invested in the National Health Service for winter 2015-16. Learning from previous years, we have put this money into the NHS baseline for 2015-16 so that the NHS can plan effectively at local level for the long-term and take earlier action to tackle the symptoms of seasonal pressures.There will be no further additional money for the NHS ahead of winter.

Department of Health: Legal Costs

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of his Department's budget is spent on legal fees and damages.

Jane Ellison: The Departmental Group spend on legal fees is captured in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15. The Departmental Group spend on legal fees is separately identified under Legal Fees in Other Administration Costs, £61,159k and Programme Costs £128,642k, totalling £189,801k.The majority of the Core Department’s spend on legal fees is captured as part of ‘Other’ spend under ‘Other Administration Costs’, ‘Programme Costs’ and in “Consultancy services”. The Annual Report and Accounts is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015It is intended that from the 2015-16 financial year, spend on legal fees for the core Department will be discussed separately in the accounts.

Hospitals: Mortality Rates

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce avoidable mortality in hospitals.

Jane Ellison: This Government is strongly committed to improving patient safety, including encouraging greater transparency about the performance of hospitals against key indicators for safety.We are leading an ambitious programme of work to help trusts understand and act on their own mortality rates: the focus of this work is to support improvement at local level.

Health: Poverty

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the relationship between poverty in childhood and (a) ill-health and (b) use in adulthood of the NHS.

Jane Ellison: We want all children to have the healthiest start possible in life, and particularly the poorest children. We have strengthened support for mothers, babies and children by increasing the number of Health Visitors and more than doubling the number of places on the Family Nurse Partnership programme. Health is now a theme of the new Troubled Families Programme, to improve the physical and mental health of the adults and children in these families.

NHS Foundation Trusts: Finance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the financial stability of foundation trusts.

George Freeman: The Department and Monitor make continual assessments of the financial performance of foundation trusts via a risk assessment framework which includes monthly reports to Monitor.Where necessary, interim financing may be provided. The Department will require the development and delivery of a recovery plan and trusts to sign up to a set of conditions aimed at delivering efficiencies.This Government will invest an additional £10 billion the National Health Service said it needs: £2 billion this year and a commitment to meet the £8 billion identified by NHS England in the Five Year Forward View by 2020.

Hospitals: Finance

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that hospitals balance their budgets.

George Freeman: We are investing the additional £8 billion the National Health Service has said it needs to implement its own future plan, on top of the extra £2 billion we have given the service. However, additional spending is not the only answer to these financial challenges. The NHS must now put in place cost-control measures we have introduced, like clamping down on rip-off staffing agencies, while we continue to work with hospitals on ways to improve productivity and reduce waste.